How Delhi went from extreme heat to heavy floods
Delhi, who endured one of the worst heatwaves in history earlier this month, now face severe water-logging with record-breaking rainfall in just 24 hours, surpassing the city's average for the entire month of June.
The torrential downpour caused a fatal airport roof collapse, disrupted flights, closed a metro station, blocked underpasses, and led to massive traffic jams, turning the city's relief from the heat into chaos.
WHAT'S HAPPENING?
The Indian capital of 20 million people received 228.1 mm rainfall in 24 hours at its main Safdarjung weather station until 8:30 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Friday, a 266% departure from normal, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Delhi has not recorded so much rain in the entire month of June at least in the last 15 years, IMD data shows. On Friday, in three hours alone, areas around the Delhi airport got 148.5 mm of rain, compared with 101.7 mm for all of June last year.
The seasonal monsoon rain, which slowly covers the country beginning from its southern tip at the end of May, brought respite from heatwave conditions that persisted in Delhi until last week. Temperatures this summer has neared 50 degrees Celsius in the city and it has recorded at least 40 consecutive days of temperatures at or above 40 degrees Celsius till June 22, according to IMD data.
An IMD official said the progress of the monsoon was stalled for a week, which led to lower rainfall and heat waves in northern India, but sudden thunderstorms last week in the region pushed the monsoon clouds
